Display units including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), electrophoretic displays (EPDs), and the like are manufactured through several processes. Optical films are attached to one surface and the other surface of a panel, respectively, to manufacture the display unit, and the panel normally operates in a case in which an absorption axis of the optical film attached to one surface of the panel and an absorption axis of the optical film attached to the other surface of the panel are perpendicular to each other. A process of attaching the optical film to one surface of the panel will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an example of the process of attaching the optical film to one surface of the panel.
Referring to FIG. 1, in the process of attaching the optical film to one surface of the panel, a supply roller R1, which supplies an optical film F having a width corresponding to a short side of a panel P, supplies the optical film F, and the supplied optical film F is moved to an attachment position, at which the optical film F is attached to the panel P, by a transport roller R2. Before the optical film F is attached to the panel P, a slit line (hereinafter, referred to as a half cut) is formed in the optical film F by a predetermined depth, but not to the depth a release film F1 is cut. Change rollers R3, which change a transport direction of the optical film F, may be installed to reduce a space in which the optical film F is transported. The panel P is moved to the attachment position by moving rollers R4, and when the optical film F and the panel P are moved to the attachment position, a pair of attaching rollers R5 attaches the optical film F to the panel P.
Meanwhile, in the process of manufacturing the display unit by attaching the optical film F to the panel P, it is essential to perform an optical film transporting process for moving the optical film to the attachment position in order to attach the optical film to one surface of the panel, and a cutting process for forming the slit line in the optical film to form sheet pieces of a polarizing film.
Further, it is necessary to stop the transport of the optical film in order to perform the cutting process.
However, in the process of manufacturing the display unit in the related art, a process of transporting the optical film F to a predetermined transport length and then stopping the transport of the optical film is repeatedly performed, but in some instances, the slit line formed in the optical film comes into contact with and is supported by the transport roller R2 or the change rollers R3 for changing the transport direction of the optical film F when the transport of the optical film F is stopped.
In this case, tension is concentratedly applied to the slit line in the optical film F since the slit line comes into contact with and is supported by the roller R2 or R3, and as a result, there is a problem in that the optical film is deformed because the polarizing film on the optical film is separated from the release film, foreign substances are attached to an adhesive layer of the polarizing film separated from the release film, or a part of the release film is torn or split.